Cover Letter do’s and dont’s
Cover Letter Do’s and Don’t.
When you apply for a job, you frequently submit a cover letter along with your CV/resume. It is a chance for you to market your application and establish yourself as a qualified candidate. It is referred to as a “letter of introduction” or an “application letter.” Your cover letter shouldn’t be a carbon copy of your CV/resume. It should rather explain why you are the best candidate for the position based on the qualifications shown on your CV. Let’s we discuss the cover letter do’s and don’ts.
Do’s of a Cover Letter.
Demonstrate that you have done extensive research.
Conduct thorough research before putting pen to paper for your cover letter. To achieve this, go beyond simply reading the job description. Your research will give you invaluable context and background information. After all, you want to ace the interview and get a job offer right? However, understanding more about the company you want to work for will help you decide how to change the tone of your cover letter. More and more companies are investing in mastering the factors that drive Job Satisfaction.
Here are some details you might want to include:
The name of the person likely to receive your application.
The position you’re applying for.
What the corporate culture of the company is like.
Their standing in the industry and top rivals
Any noteworthy developments or news in the industry recently
The aims and objectives of the business
Whether the business has any difficulties
2. Make a compelling opening statement to get their attention.
As with any writing, the goal is to immediately capture the reader’s interest to avoid losing them. Think outside of the box because many other candidates will use the cliché “I’m applying for this role because…” What makes you unique? What is the most interesting fact about you that people should know? Try to express that you are really thrilled about the position and are a good fit for it.
Think creatively, but we advise against using humour. Although it’s acceptable to be humorous (yet consider each organization individually), keep in mind that this is a professional job application.
3. Demonstrate your contribution’s worth to the business in a clear manner.
This is a broad generalization, but the goal of recruiting a new employee is to locate someone who can assist the company in solving difficulties. Your cover letter should demonstrate to hiring managers how you can contribute to the team or department you’ll be joining by helping them resolve issues. Below we discuss the cover letter do’s and don’ts.
The most effective method to do this is to discuss how your prior professional experience has prepared you to handle obstacles in your career. Thereafter relate those experiences to the position and organization you are applying to.
4. Emphasize your passion for the position.
This new employment opportunity is thrilling since it gives you the ability to advance your career with like-minded coworkers. This is well related to job satisfaction for you as an employee. While working for a business you’ve long liked. You sincerely desire the position. If not, you wouldn’t be applying, right?
Make that very apparent in your cover letter, then. Many other applicants will have the necessary qualifications, some even more qualified than you. The hiring manager will be looking for excitement and commitment to the position. Be sincere and put all your heart into the cover letter; sincerity sells.
When writing, try to utilize language that the hiring manager who will likely review your application would use when speaking with clients. You might need to conduct a little extra research to fully understand this.
5. Say more by saying less.
You might be wondering how much space your cover letter should take up. You cover letter should be no longer than one side of an A4. If it’s longer, why not shorten it? You can practice a written sense of self-management here.
Keep in mind that CV already has a ton of information. Everything that is on your CV is not to be repeated in your cover letter. You can reiterate crucial points that are directly related and relevant to the position. Otherwise, avoid repeating your abilities and prior experience. If you are successful in doing that, you will have more freedom to express your enthusiasm for the position and the letter will be brief enough for the hiring manager to skim it.
Don’ts of a cover letter.
Avoid these common cover letter mistakes:
Avoid reiterating material from your resume.
Certain cover letters only restate the resume’s content in writing form. Think about the benefits a cover letter can give to your application. Make sure it contains additional information not found on your resume and further establishes your position as a candidate. Always make sure to present an updated resume, this is crucial as your interest will show.
2. You claimed that the position would help you advance your skills.
Even while it very well may be the case, it is not appropriate to mention in your cover letter how much you would love this position because it would allow you to advance professionally. Keep in mind that you should highlight your strengths rather than how this position will benefit you.
Some applicants spend a significant amount of the space in their cover letter describing why they believe the position is ideal for them or how long they have desired to work there. Even though the data is flattering, you could want to add useful data that emphasizes your strengths as a worker and what you have to offer.
3. Don’t concentrate on your existing position or qualifications.
Your career history, including your schooling, is valuable. Instead of repeating it, use the space in your cover letter to explain why it is important. Instead of listing your degrees, for instance, describe what you learnt and any skills you acquired during the process. Describe how your knowledge and talents are a benefit to the business.
4. Do not submit an unrevised cover letter.
Your cover letter serves as your introduction. If there are any spelling or grammar mistakes in your letter, that will be the company’s first impression of you. Write several drafts of your cover letter as many times as necessary before choosing the one that will be submitted.
5. Avoid using too many keywords.
Some software detects when a text contains an excessive number of a particular keyword and either rate it poorly or discards it. Write your cover letter with well-structured sentences and planned thoughts. Make your information count because a real person will read your cover letter after it passes the software assessment.
In conclusion, although cover letters are not usually needed, they are used by hiring managers to evaluate an applicant’s qualifications, experience, and background. Writing an excellent cover letter requires demonstrating how your professional background fits the requirements of the available position and the company’s culture. For more related topics or advice follow our social pages, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram
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Overcoming “Unconscious Bias” in Employing.
Continue ReadingOvercoming “Unconscious Bias” in Employing.
Always aim to select the ideal individual for the position. Your choice to hire a candidate is based on their suitability for the position. Or at least, you think you are doing that. You sincerely think that your choice is the outcome of a deliberative process. And that’s entirely typical. Humans, however, are unaware that their choices are frequently skewed in some way. Overcoming “Unconscious Bias” in Employing is easier than you think, one needs to focus on what’s needed. Knowing How to improve your hiring process in 8 easy steps is very important.
Your decision-making is guided by an unconscious bias. a prejudice that affects employment decisions and whether you choose to work with “the right person” but that you’re not always conscious of.
What is unconscious bias?
The phrase “unconscious” or “implicit bias” refers to mental processes that enable people to behave in ways that support stereotypes even though our conscious minds would find that action to be in opposition to our moral code. Affinity bias, which occurs when people gravitate toward those who look, act, and think like they do, is closely related to unconscious bias.
Even in the early phases of hiring, you might be more influenced than you realize by a candidate’s résumé photo, name, or location. In other words, unconscious prejudice uses characteristics unrelated to the job to affect your choice, either favorably or unfavourably.
Why You Should Avoid Unconscious Hiring Biases
Biased hiring creates less diverse teams, even though diverse teams consistently outperform homogenous teams. In the end, unconscious bias may result in financial losses for your company.
Biased hiring practices can also increase employee turnover, which can cost a company up to twice the employee’s yearly compensation in lost productivity. Why is this topic Overcoming “Unconscious Bias” in Employing so important? It is crucial to understand the concept. Hiring staff can be a daunting task. If you follow the hiring guidelines it should not be that difficult at all. Top Recruitment agencies can assist with this, we are not bias-oriented and look for candidates that match the client’s requirements. Also important is to increase your employees’ work performance during periods throughout the year.
Bias-based hiring decisions—based on stereotypes, gender, physical attractiveness, etc.—can also have serious legal repercussions.
But fortunately, there are measures in place to lessen hiring discrimination (go straight to that part). Let’s first examine the most typical forms of hiring bias, though. Do any of these things ring a bell?
Common Types of Unconscious Bias in Hiring
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias occurs when we make an initial opinion of a candidate and then seek out and concentrate on data that confirms that impression. This involves ignoring red indicators that contradict our opinions and asking irrelevant, unimportant interview questions that validate our beliefs.
Attribution Bias
The propensity to blame a person’s actions on their personality rather than any external circumstances is known as attribution bias. In essence, it causes us to overvalue a person’s personality features and underestimate the impact of their unique situation. Still perplexed? As we explore this unconscious prejudice in greater detail, read on for some examples.
Affinity Bias
Affinity bias, also known as similarity bias, is the unconsciously occurring human propensity to seek out those with histories, interests, and beliefs that are like one’s own. While we may believe that we deliberately choose the individuals we associate with based on their moral qualities, the truth is that we often struggle to be unbiased in our choices of friends and acquaintances. People frequently gravitate toward others just because they make them think of themselves.
Halo Effect
The “physical attractiveness stereotype” and the “what is beautiful is also good” premise are other names for the halo effect. Overcoming “Unconscious Bias” in Employing the best candidate for the position at hand should not be the end of the world. It’s simply changing your mindset.
A form of cognitive bias known as the “halo effect” occurs when our overall opinion of a person affects how we feel and think about their character. In essence, your assessment of a person’s general impression (“He is nice!”) affects your assessment of that person’s specific characteristics (“He is also smart!”). People’s perceptions of one quality can influence their perceptions of other characteristics.
Horn Effect
In many ways, the horn effect is the exact opposite of the halo effect. The horn effect is a cognitive process whereby we quickly attribute unfavorable attitudes or behaviors to someone based on one element of their appearance or personality. Obese people, who regrettably are sometimes characterized as being sluggish, slovenly, or irresponsible, are an example of this. Hiring supervisors could have a “bad feeling” about someone right away based on their appearance, speech, or even body language.
Difference between the horn effect and the halo effect
Halo effect: A positive first impression that leads us to treat someone more favorably.
Horn effect: A negative first impression that leads us to treat someone less favorably.
Conformity Bias
When we consciously align our behaviors, beliefs, or attitudes with those of a group, conformity bias emerges. Other people can impact us even when they are not physically there because this transformation occurs in reaction to either real or perceived group pressure. For instance, how we perceive what other people are doing often determines how much energy we use at home, how much we pay in taxes, and how much we donate to charities.
One aspect of social influence is conformity, or the propensity to have the same views as the majority. The many ways that other people might affect our conduct are referred to as social influence. Small groups and society at large both exhibit a tendency to conform, which can be caused by both subtle unconscious influences and social pressure.
Gender Bias
Unintentional and automatic mental associations based on gender that are derived from customs, expectations, norms, values, culture, and/or experience are referred to as unconscious gender prejudice. Automatic associations are used in decision-making to quickly assess a person’s gender and gender identity and stereotypes. Organizations can work to combat gender bias and other forms of prejudice, so even when a person exhibits unconscious gender bias, this does not necessarily convert into prejudice in the workplace.
Affect Heuristics
This occurs when recruiters conclude a candidate’s suitability for the position without thoroughly weighing all the available data.
Simply said, you are making decisions about someone’s eligibility for a job based on unimportant, superficial considerations that have no bearing on how they would approach the task at issue. For instance, you might assume that someone is incompetent because of their evident tattoos or because they are overweight simply because you don’t like that personality attribute or trait of theirs.
Overconfidence Effect
When someone’s subjective judgmental confidence exceeds their objective judgmental accuracy, this impact is what happens.
For instance, when someone feels overconfident making employment decisions based on their gut feelings is a smart idea. Overconfidence is frequently the product of confirmation bias (see below), which makes people recall instances in which following their intuition resulted in a successful hire while ignoring or forgetting instances in which it failed.
Avoiding Unconscious Bias in Recruitment
When you aren’t aware you’re doing something, it can be difficult to quit. The good news is that you can recognize your prejudices and even acquire strategies for minimizing them.
Let’s examine the tactics that are successful in decreasing recruitment bias.
Awareness Training
Biases can occur during every step of the recruiting and recruitment process, from reviewing resumes to creating job descriptions to conducting interviews to extending an offer of employment.
Review job descriptions
According to studies, the language used in job advertisements and job descriptions is crucial for attracting a variety of talent. Even the choice of keywords can have a significant impact on the number of applicants for your open position. Words like “competitive,” “determined,” and “assertive” are likely to discourage female candidates, whereas “responsible,” “connect,” and “dedicated” seem to boost their response rates.
Reviewing your CVs blindly
By excluding any information that would tempt you to make judgments about applicants’ gender, color, age, or other characteristics, you can review applications objectively. You can evaluate CVs more objectively, unearth some hidden gems, and identify the most qualified individuals for your interview by removing this type of content utilizing software applications.
Standardize the interviews.
Interviews that are structured are twice as effective as those that are not, according to research. You can lessen interview prejudice by posing identical questions to every applicant.
In conclusion, even if we sincerely want to increase diversity in our employment process, unconscious bias persists. Though we may not be able to eliminate our unconscious prejudice, we can always begin by attempting to understand how it influences our hiring decisions. In the end, we’ll be more aware of it when it does occur. For more trending article topics and related content, follow our social pages Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.
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10 Red Flags on a...
Continue Reading10 Red Flags on a CV That Employers look for
A recruiter will review a CV before determining if the candidate is a good fit or not. As a result, they have mastered the skill and are fully aware of their surroundings. On the one hand, they seek out precise keywords and a format that is simple to understand. On the other hand, they are searching for errors and other significant warning signs. These errors are detrimental to your career but making them on your resume can be particularly harmful. Joining a company that embraces Employer Branding is helpful. Let’s take a look at 10 red flags that employers look for.
How to address these red flags head-on to increase your chances of getting an interview is provided below.
An unprofessional email address
Your email address is at the top of the page and glaringly obvious to the recruiter/employer. Warning sign number one is – an unprofessional email address. The first red flag is an unprofessional email address. You ought to have a straightforward and expert email address. If for some reason you don’t, setting it up requires a few minutes. Use your last name and first initial or first and last name when creating your professional email address.
Poor formatting
Poorly structured resumes are more difficult to read and make it difficult for recruiters to discover important information. It’s not just an issue of appearances. Even if you’re a good fit, poor formatting may result in problems with applicant tracking systems (ATS). Poor formatting on your resume, including glaring errors, shows that you didn’t put much thought or work into it. This may make a potential employer question if you’ll put in just as little effort if you land the job. This also depends in part on you and in certain cases on the preferences of the recruiter. Use a free CV template to get started.
Unexplained employment gaps
Unemployment gaps are a standalone warning flag, but gaps in employment without justifications make it more obvious. Your employment history may contain gaps for a variety of reasons. Maybe you were dealing with health issues, taking care of a family member, or you just decided to take a career vacation. Whatever the cause, be as truthful as you can about your whereabouts and your activities. Don’t go too personal, please. The minute particulars are not required. Your employment history should be presented in your cover letter with a precise and succinct explanation. Perhaps during your time off, you gained some crucial new knowledge or encountered situations that were pertinent. You might even go into more detail about how this has made you better at your job.
Lack of career progression
Employers seek candidates who desire to prosper and advance with the business. Your resume should demonstrate how your career has advanced. When you have been inactive for too long, you may wonder why. A candidate’s irregular career path or absence thereof may have been due to a variety of legitimate factors. Candidates who frequently change jobs or resign from them give the impression that they lack commitment and loyalty.
Wording mistakes
The errors in your resume reveal a lack of attention to detail. Although it might seem obvious, you’d be amazed at how many people get this wrong. These grammatical errors are obvious from a distance. Consider it from the perspective of the employer. Your best work should be highlighted on your CV. If it’s riddled with errors, you’re conveying the wrong idea. Hint: Have your resume edited by at least two people. Then, before submitting your application, make sure to proofread it multiple times.
Job hopping
Job hopping, which is described as regularly changing employers, typically has a bad connotation. These days, employers look for more than simply experience. They prize flexibility, a thirst for knowledge, and a variety of talents. Each hop could stand for your desire for development and dedication to lifelong study. You are moving toward bettering yourself, not away from, anything.
A red flag on your resume will almost always be raised by brief stays and unexpected departures. Your CV shouldn’t shout, “I’m probably going to leave as soon as my training is finished,” because employers prefer workers who are in it for the long haul. As a jobseeker, you should always research companies that believe in company values.
Too much (or too little) information
When it comes to resumes, more isn’t necessarily better. The first impression you want to give is not one of being out of touch with professional standards, which is what happens when you provide the incorrect information.
Too many personal details make you appear unprofessional and increase your vulnerability to discrimination. On the other side, leaving out vital facts like your contact information makes you appear unprofessional and negligent and makes it harder for employers to contact you. Including your complete street address on your CV won’t likely prompt recruiters to throw it away. However, they will be searching for other signs of professionalism (or a lack thereof). If you’re still not sure where the fine line between too little or too much information is, HOW TO WRITE A CV.
Underscoring Results While Overemphasizing Responsibilities
It might be challenging to succinctly express your professional abilities in a way that sets you apart from the competition. Candidates frequently wind up overemphasizing their duties, which comes out as conceited. This might turn off employers.
Even though you are a renowned leader or a forward-thinking thinker, those statements ought to be made about you rather than by you. Do not assert any obligations or make any representations about them that cannot be supported by facts. Include a former boss or supervisor who can attest to your accomplishments as a reference if you can.
Lack of Measurable Successes
If you don’t quantify your accomplishments in previous positions, potential employers might suspect that you’re lying on your CV. It’s critical to show the results efforts have yielded in addition to making sure you get credited for your contributions.
Concentrate on accomplishments that meet the needs of the recruiter and highlight how you delivered the intended results for these efforts. Adding percentages or numbers within predefined times is an excellent way to accomplish this. Positions in sales and marketing are particularly pertinent to this.
Skills that Are No Longer Valuable
The use of general skills like “Microsoft Word” or “Excel” in your CV shows that you might not have any more in-demand abilities. Since you lack the requisite abilities or knowledge, it suggests that you are not a good fit for the position.
To help employers rapidly decide whether you have the necessary credentials, try providing 5 to 10 specific and pertinent talents. Make sure your CV is targeted to the position you’re seeking and highlights the most significant elements of your background, skills, and expertise.
In conclusion, the next time you think of applying for a job, revise these CV red flags, and proofread your application before applying. For more content like this, follow our social pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
